AN ORGANIZED OFFICE: Banish These 4 Stumbling Blocks to Clear the Way

In the organizing world, March has been tagged as Organize your Office month and today is National Organize Your Office Day. This day focuses on organizing one of the most stressful areas in a home or business: the office.

What is your office like today – is it a jumbled mess that seems to grow exponentially while you sleep? Have you not even tried to tackle organizing it because you have found too many stumbling blocks preventing you from even getting started?Be assured, you are not the only one experiencing this problem.Today, on this national day of recognition, let’s explore some of the stumbling blocks that are holding you back and banish them forever.

I find the four most common blocks are: indecision about taking action, not having enough time, uncertainty about where to start and not knowing how to start. Have you experienced any of these stumbling blocks?The only way to overcome them is to work through each one, one block at a time.Here’s what you can do.

DECIDE TO TAKE ACTION: Concentrate on the benefits

The hardest step to take is deciding to take action; living in indecision can be quite paralyzing. This is what I remind people who are stuck at this stumbling block:your indecision is costing you valuable time, energy, money and creating high stress levels.Is that how you want to live your life?Concentrate on the benefits you will receive with an organized office and you will be able move past the stumbling block as soon as you decide to take action.

DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME: Block out smaller chunks of time

You don’t need large blocks of time, but you DO have to commit to SOME blocks of time. If you truly wish to move away from a disorganized space, commit to working on the project by blocking off time on your calendar.You can block off 15 minutes a day, 30 minutes three times a week, a few hours once a week or a full day over the weekend. Make a commitment to improve your space using calendared blocks of time.

DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START: Break the project into small chunks

If this is a stumbling block for you, I recommend that you sit at a central point of the room (usually the desk) and look around. Think about what areas cause the most inefficiency in your day (or what bothers you the most) and make a list of 4 areas that need work (prioritize them from worst to least).This will break the BIG task down into smaller chunks, making it feel more manageable and will give you a focal point to get started.

DON’T KNOW HOW TO START: Follow our lead

You’ve already started by reading this blog post and our 3 week series on Organizing Your Office will guide you the rest of the way. During the month of March, you will learn how to:

Clear out the Clutter (from your desk)

Set up a Paper Processing System

Choose a Desk that Meshes with Your Personal Working Style

So I challenge you: Decide to take action today by remembering the benefits of organizing, make a commitment by blocking out time on your calendar and break the project into smaller chunks with a priority list.Once you begin using these tools, you will quickly overcome your stumbling blocks, clear the way to an organized office and within a few, short weeks bring efficiency and productivity into your world.

What will be the stumbling block YOU overcome today? Leave us a reply and share your discovery with our readers.

I am fortunate that both my home office and work space are well organized. My problem is the piles of “stuff” on my desk and around the office at home. Every once in a while I’ve “had enough” so I start at one end of my desk and start going through the piles. I throw out, file, and put away all the things I’ve laid aside to put away another time. It is true that sometimes the task seems too overwhelming to even get started, but at the end of my cleaning spurt I feel so much better. Thanks for sharing these tips.

Hooray! This is EXACTLY what I needed to read today. Yes, a challenge to organize is a good thing, and so is the encouragement to take it one baby step at a time. My office is a horrid mess, but I know that I need to get it cleaned up and organized. Thanks, Lynn!

Fantastic Amy! So glad the message resonated with you. You just started on the path towards organization by acknowledging that you need to bring it into your office! If it’s too overwhelming, take it slowly; you’re on your own journey and it’s a process, not a destination.

I’ll be publishing some more posts very soon (one is coming out this week); you might want to consider signing up for our newsletter that will delivered posts directly into your inbox. You can do so by clicking here.

I hope you’ll share your organizing experiences here on the blog and, as always, feel free to contact me if you need any help. Lynn

Blocking out time is essential to starting any project, isn’t it! And I’m so happy to hear that you are considering setting up a paper processing system.

I’ll be publishing a post on that subject shortly. So as not to miss that post (and others), you might want to consider signing up for our newsletter – SOS: Simple Organizing Solutions. You can do that by clicking here.

As always, I would love to have you share your organizing experiences here on our blog and feel free to contact me if you need help. Lynn

What great tips, Lynn!! I find myself lacking the motivation to actually decide to take action!! Having an organized office really does change everything though, and it actually inspires me to work!! And I think I need to look for a desk that matches my style…I hadn’t thought of that, so thank you! 🙂

Thank you eynie! Lack of motivation is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to taking action isn’t it? Having a goal and taking things in small steps can help to get past that block, though. I’ll be writing a post in about a week or two about what desk styles work with what work styles. You can receive that post directly in your inbox if you sign up for our newsletter. Click on this link to do so. http://eepurl.com/wd_J9
Please feel free to drop me a note if you need any help. Lynn